Mayor ‘disappointed’ Housing Minister snubs Dublin City Council meeting despite homeless deaths

» John Hedges

An Phoblacht Editor

‘Government policy, with its over-reliance on the market to deliver housing, has clearly failed’

ARDMHÉARA Bhaile Átha Cliath Mícheál Mac Donncha has said he is “disappointed” that Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy will not be attending the September monthly meeting of Dublin City Council on Monday evening as the city mourned another homeless person’s death on the streets of the capital between City Hall and the Dáil.

Minister Murphy wants to await publication of his review of his Government’s ‘Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness’ before meeting the Council – but Ardmhéara Mac Donncha insists that it is “absolutely vital” that Dublin City Council has input to the review before it is issued.

Ardmhéara Mac Donncha, a Sinn Féin councillor (pictured), said:

“We have just had a summer during which the housing crisis worsened, with growing numbers of people experiencing homelessness, including families with children, with private rents rising relentlessly in Dublin and the supply of housing far outstripped by housing need.

“Government policy, with its over-reliance on the market to deliver housing, has clearly failed.

“In these circumstances, it is absolutely vital that Dublin City Council has a direct input into Minister Eoghan Murphy’s review of ‘Rebuilding Ireland’.

“As the largest local authority with the greatest housing need, Dublin City Council’s role is crucial. We are dealing directly with the issues preventing faster delivery of more housing such as a lack of a Government scheme of affordable housing. Overall, we are hugely challenged by the massive deficit in social housing supply caused by the policy decisions of successive governments.

“We need policy that puts local authorities back at the centre of housing provision with resources to match.

“It is especially disappointing to learn that the Minister will not avail of this opportunity to meet the City Council at a time when his department is floating ideas such as the establishment of an Irish Water-type central housing authority with powers being taken away from local authorities.

“Does the Housing Minister intend to discuss this with elected representatives at Council level?”

The Sinn Féin councilor said the Housing Minister has not given a timeframe for the publication of his review and he will continue to urge his direct engagement with Dublin City Council “at the earliest possible date”.

Sympathy

Speaking before the news broke of the death of a woman who was sleeping rough in a tent in Cork City, Ardmhéara Mac Donncha also expressed his sympathy on the deaths of two homeless people in the past week in Dublin City and in Kildare.

He said:

“I extend deepest sympathy to the bereaved of the two homeless people who died in the past week. Such deaths are truly tragic and, whatever the individual circumstances, the deaths of people experiencing homelessness remind us all again of the pressing need to work towards the elimination of homelessness for good.”